Thursday, May 15, 2008

"About That Greenhouse Plant 4.12"

Drive past the anthurium, take a left at the second traffic light.
Rather, forget about it. The plant that Ben mentions in his instructions to John does not seem to have any significance as far as I can tell. Anthuriums are a just popular commercial greenhouse tropical plant, valued for their unique flowers and the colorfully variegated waxy foliage. They were very popular in the post WWII Pacific-theater years and often the subject of fabric design, especially the heavy bark-cloth used for upholstery and curtains. I have not found any reference linking them to any type of science or alchemy.

Its name is Greek for "tail flower". I found two Victorian meanings in anthurium-giving; either hospitality or intense attraction, neither one of which seems to have any underlying purpose to LOST mythology (accept maybe the latter since we might get our Orchid station physics lessons in this cluster-finale). Oh well, sometimes a flower is just a flower, right Doctor Freud? At any rate, I'll be buying myself one this weekend just for the heck of it, most likely. :-)

10 comments:

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

Capcom, let's work on this together. The final two-hour finale has always had the code name "Frozen Donkey Wheel." It hit me after reading your last entry. Light cones. Cones=frozen and even wheel, I guess. Now is Donkey meant as the animal, or using the syllable "key"? The wheel part is the Orchid logo I'm sure. I'm trying my best on this one, but I never have figured out why they called that Hurley episode (the one with the meteor destroying the Mr. Cluck's) "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead."

Word verification: qruma. An upcoming Sawyerr nickname that will leave the entire cast scratching their heads.

memphish said...

Maybe they picked these flowers to link back to the red flowers the set dressers put all over the Island in previous seasons. They are in the scene where Eko meets Yemi I know. And I remember TPTB discussing them in a commentary. I can't remember which one though.

maven said...

Well, that red plant would certainly stick out as a marker. I don't remember, but was this plant in the greenhouse on the commune-marijuana that Locke spent some time?

Memphish: I also remember that plant in numerous scenes in the past (especially that Eko/Yemi scene).

Thanks for all the research, Capcom!

Amused2bHere said...

Frozen donkey wheel...that's a wheel that a donkey turns so a gear can make something else work, right? Like a millstone, or other device (electricity?). If it were frozen, then the machine would be stuck.

I have a bad feeling about Locke being the one near the machinery.

Amused2bHere said...

I hope John finds two great big hamster wheels down in the Orchid!

Capcom said...

Funny you should bring that up Wayne, but not-so-funny is that someone was putting a good guess to that phrase (and linking it to relativity, etc.), but I can't remember where I read it. Dang all these great blogs, I can never remember where I read the good stuff.

I think that the Yemi flowers were some kind of bromeliad, or "ginger torch". The Anthruiums come in several colors, red, white, yellow, light green, etc. In the screencap of the outside of the Orchid, there is a red flower that looks a lot like the Yemi flower. I'll have to check about the flowers in the "pot house". :-)

Maybe the rest of the poor polar bears are running the giant wheel?!

Capcom said...

Here's NY magazine's take on it Wayne: "Our favorite guess: "Frozen Donkey Wheel" = "Cold-Ass Circle" = the finale takes place at the Arctic Circle!" I dunno, my brain has been rejecting anything happening in the arctic for some reason. But I guess will have to eat crow if it does happen.

Here are some theories at Lostpedia: http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Frozen_Donkey_Wheel/theories

I'm still working on finding that one really good theory that I saw.

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

Thx for the link, Capcom. I posted over at EYE M SICK, and I'll hold off on the theories as I do my own "thought experiments." (I'm still trying to figure the point in naming that Hurley episode "Tricia Tanake Is Dead," as almost every title means something. Why mention her full name? Why no mention at all of the meteor hitting Mr. Cluck's in the title? I digress, but I swear there's a reason for that specific title. I'm already curious as to the title for the first episode of 2009.

Word verification: tilrlbnj in #(&#W@@ Cryllic! Make it stop!!!

lost2010 said...

Those code names they come up with for the finales never end up making any sense to me. Didn't they call the last one "Snake in the Mailbox" or something?

"Cold-Ass Circle" sounds like a Sawyer line. You know like, "I agreed to stay behind on a tropical island - not freeze my a$$ off in the d@#$ artic circle."

I was looking through some old pictures last night and found one I'd made of the same flowers you have posted on this blog - - of course, I had no idea what they were called. I guess botany is something else Locke studied up on in preparation for his walkabout.

Capcom said...

Heh, I guess so Lost2010, Ben certainly assumed that Locke knew what the heck he was talking about! Unless there is a big-a$$ sign sticking out of the dirt. :o) I can see it now, the usual bagua, with Anthurium written across the middle.

I also think that it would have been cool to name that ep with a title that had something to do with meteors, Wayne.